Goslar – Gose beer Launch at 25th Anniversary 2019
Beer style
Originally the beer was spontaneously fermented like a modern lambic. This would generate a lactic sourness. The beer in Goslar was not lactic, however the modern craft revival requires this element. It is also a top fermented wheat beer with coriander and fairly low alcohol content.
Our Gose
Fermented with Saison and lactic yeasts this pale beer is endowed with a light haze. A little bready on the nose with mild lactic and fruit, this light refreshing ale uses a small charge of Goldings hops to allow coriander, orange and mango juice to mingle subtly. A small amount of salt is the trademark of the style, here lending a fullness to the mouthfeel and body.
Beer history
Gose originated in the town of Goslar in Germany on the edge of the Harz mountains. Steve and Christine visited the town on a research mission to find the beer. The unspoit medieval town, with its timber framed buldings, is 1000 years old. Popular wisdom would have us believe that Gose is named after the river Gose, getting its salty flavour from the water. Expecting the river Gose to run through the town, we found only the Absucht. In fact, the river Gose is a tributary of the Absucht which joins the Absucht outside the old town defences, before running into the town. Confusingly, the Absucht flows beside a road called “An der Gose” before flowing alongside another road called “An der Absucht”. Did the people of the town once confuse the Gose with the Absucht?
Another idea is that the beer is not named after the river, but after the town. A legend states that a knight called Ramm discovered a vein of ore in the Harz mountains. His wife was named Gosa and the town Goslar was named after her. Maybe the beer was named after the town, as was customary across Europe.
Whatever the origin of the name, the beer nearly died out. Only the Brauhaus Goslar brews Gose in the town.